InnoSetup: "The volume for a file has been externally altered"

9
votes

InnoSetup appears to be corrupting my executable when compiling the setup project. Executing the source file works fine, but executing the file after installation produces Win32 error 1006 "The volume for a file has been externally altered".

I've tried disabling compression and setting various flags, to no avail.

Has anyone experienced this?

UPDATE

Okay there's been some twists to the situation:

At the moment, I can even manually copy a working file to the location it is installed to and get "The volume for a file...". To be clear: I uninstall the application, create the same folder and paste the files there and run.

UPDATE 2

Some more details for those that want it: The InnoSetup script is compiled by FinalBuilder using output from msbuild, also executed by FinalBuilder, running on my machine with XP SP3. The executable is a C# .Net assembly compiled in configuration Release|AnyCPU. The file works when executed in the folder the Install Script takes it from. It produces the same behaviour on an XP Virtual Machine. The MD5 hashes of the source file and the installed file are the same.

3
inno-setup
Just to be sure, this happens if you create a new installer to put just this file without modifiers in the target system? It happens on any machine you install the file? it happens if you just copy the file? what's the exact [FILES] directive you're using to include the file? are you executing any PascalScript at installation time? - jachguate
Thanks for the interest everyone. I got a working install by making a new ISS file with just the minimum entries (AppName, AppVer + files). I'm now working on adding the rest of the requirements line by line and testing as I go. - Andre Luus
I'm now getting the same problem again and it is driving me up the wall. Help! - Andre Luus
@Andre please post the log of the install, and/or the script you are using the produce the install. This will help in identifying why you might have the problem... If you are improperly installing any Microsoft Code you can get this error - Robert Love
Hi Robert. At the moment it looks as if that specific location on my computer is "bad". I'm still trying to figure out how extensive that is. - Andre Luus

3 Answers

19
votes

Ok, I just received this same error. I have a config which my executable uses. I looked in my folder a million times - but finally notice the config file was zero length. I corrected the config and the error stopped occurring.

Check the simplest things first... good lucK!

3
votes

ERROR_FILE_INVALID 1006 (0x3EE): The volume for a file has been externally altered so that the opened file is no longer valid.

I suspect you're having this issue after moving the files to a network share. It seems to me that what's happening is you have an open file-handle - possibly to a temporary file you are creating - and then some other process (perhaps running on a different host) is coming along and renaming or deleting that file or its' parent directory tree.

So my advice is:

  1. Try installing to a local directory
  2. Run after an anti-virus scan, in safe-mode or on a different machine to see if there isn't some background nasty changing volume/directory properties while your program is running.
  3. Make sure the program itself isn't doing anything weird with the volume or directory tree you're working with.
1
votes

Never seen that before. I've got a few questions and suggestions: - Are you signing the EXE during the compile of the setup? If so, try leaving that part out. - WHat OS are you installing on or does it happen on all machines you've tried?
- Run the install with the /LOG="c:\install.log" option and post the log. It might show something happening during install. - Run a byte compare or MD5 check on the source EXE and the installed EXE. Are they the same? Do they have the same version resource?